Robinson Crusoe and The Castle of Otranto - Essay Example

The novel highlights the urge that the English man was considered to have for travel and exploration of new territories that could be added to the ever growing British Empire. The novel uses stereotypes that were common during the eighteenth century and portrays people of non-white races in a poor light. The spirit of adventure of the English man as embodied by the protagonist also emphasizes the superiority of the Caucasian man in general and the English man in particular. The story of Robinson Crusoe is that of a man who loves voyages and adopts sailing as a profession despite the misgivings that his parents have.

He goes ahead to pursue his daring career as a sailor and abandons the relatively safe option of law that his parents envisage for him. This highlights the entrepreneurial spirit of the English man of the eighteenth century. Despite being shipwrecked once, Crusoe is not deterred from following his dream of earning his living as a sailor. The courage of the protagonist in facing the perils that are sent even by nature are repeatedly referred to for the purpose of celebrating the attitude of the English explorer of the eighteenth century, and it is implied that this was the reason for the expansion of the British Empire.

The stay of the protagonist, Crusoe, in the island, forms the most important part of the novel. . This includes an exploration of the island and the enslavement of Friday, the person who is made a prisoner by cannibals. This is an example of an unkind and prejudiced treatment of people of other races on the part of the author, Daniel Defoe. Such a treatment of people of non-white races is based on the assumption of white supremacy. The attempts of the protagonist to teach Friday the ways of the white people also highlights the feelings of contempt and condescension that the English colonialists felt for the colonized.

The climax reveals the ultimate aim of the enterprise that Crusoe engages in. The economic success that the protagonist achieves symbolizes the real reason for the civilizing mission that the colonial enterprise was hidden under. The understanding of this framework is necessary for a modern understanding of Robinson Crusoe (Defoe, 2007). Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto was published in 1764. During this phase of history the novel was still quite a nascent literary form. The genre that Walpole’s novel adheres to is that of the gothic.

The gothic novel was very popular during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Walpole’s novel is considered to be the first known work of Gothicism in English literature. Gothic literature displays an amalgamation of romanticism and realism. The preface of the novel points to certain crucially important factors about the thematic concerns of the novel and the socio-historical milieu in which it was written. The author chooses to compose the story within the frame of the preface wherein he positions himself as an objective translator who is many times removed from the actual tale.

This was perhaps done primarily to lend a certain degree of authenticity to the novel, besides being a safeguard